by Jimmy Vaccaro (Twitter @JimmyVaccaro)
August 10, 2010

As Karen Carpenter said it so well a generation ago, "We’ve only just begun."

Are you 1-0 or 0-1 coming out of the box after Sunday’s first NFL game, albeit preseason, in 6 months. There was some money that showed on the Bengals, which showed enough monetary interest as compared to the Sunday night Red Sox-Yankees game.

Now the trends, angles, and endless talk shows will in most cases form your betting habits for the next four weeks.

We are hitting one of those already with the Thursday night Raiders-Cowboy game. Our own "gambling" hall of famer, Joe ‘Rags’ Ragusa padded his pockets for a few years as he bet on the team who had the extra game under its belt until the number caught up with the angle.

So this week if you were betting blindly, Dallas and Cincy would be your two tickets to paradise; both opened more than a field goal over their opponents but the obstacle will be days off.

Dallas played a road game and will play in just four days as the Bengals will have a week to muster the troops.

The theory on betting the team that had played is that their first unit will get a little more playing time and had at least some game time conditions.

But is the trade-off asking too much with such a short preparation time.

The point is living in a 24 hour world and especially in Nevada, advice comes cheap as anyone who lives and breathes in this sports betting environment knows.

Personally I would rather play on the Bengals who will be home playing against a team that travels a fair distance.

And in today’s media-crazed world especially in the Cincy area, talk shows will be all over the Bengals. With their dismal showing Sunday night Marvin Lewis will keep his front line guys probably one more drive than usual.

But as explained earlier that advice comes cheap so the final decision comes only when you reach into your left front pocket and take a stand.

As I was TV remoted out between the inductee speeches and Turner Classic Movies on Saturday, I was glad I caught the one given by Floyd Little as he came from my era and was glad he got there; even he should have been in the hall of fame at least 15 years earlier.

I enjoyed what I heard from the others but I will tell you this group inducted on Sunday would probably still be -3 over the Lions.

So you can take a "header" or stay in the "shallow end" of the pool in the upcoming weeks but make it your choice.

Take care,
Jimmy V.